Silo.



R. S. LEWIS.

SILU.

APPLICATION FlLEDEPT. 11. |913.

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THB COLUMBIA PumouRAPH C0., WSHINGTGN, D. c.' I

R. S. LEWIS.

SILO.

APPLICATION FILED SEPTA?. I9I3.

1,189,205. Y Patented June 27,1916.

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UNITED srarns PATENT carica.

RUDY S. LEWIS. OE FERGUSON, MISSOURI.

SILO.

Application filed September 17, 1913.

T 0 all lwhom t may concern.' l

Be it known that I, RUDY S. LEWIS, a citizen of the United States,'and resident of Ferguson, St. Louis county, Missouri, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Silos, of which the following is a specification containing a full, clear, and exact description, reference being had to the accompanying drawings, forming a part hereof.

My invention relates to improvements in silos and the object of my invention is to' construct a silo with a continuous wall opening adjustable as to width and t0 arrange in conjunction therewith a horizontal wall section made up of a plurality of staves arranged to overlap the wall opening and provided with means for holding them against the silo at the sides of the wall opening in order to obviate door leakage.

A further and more specilic object of my invention is to construct a novel means for drawing and holding the horizontal staves both toward each other and against the silo proper. And a still further object of my invention is to construct a silo provided with a continuous wall opening with means whereby the sides of the wall opening may be moved toward or away from each other to compensate for the shrinking or stretching of the walls of the silo. v

Vith the above purposes in view my invention consists in certain novel features of construction and arrangement of parts as will be hereinafter more fully described, pointed out in the claims and illustrated by the accompanying drawings, in which- Figure 1 shows in elevation a silo constructed according to my invention; Fig. Q is an enlarged detail vertical sectional elevation through the horizontal wall section of the silo, taken on the line 9.-2 of Fig. 1; Fig. 3 is an enlarged detail sectional plan taken on the line 3-3 of Fig. 1; Fig. 4 is an inside face view ofthe portion of the silo shown in Fig. 3; and Fig. 5 is a fragmental sectional plan showing a modified form of my invention.

The invention of this application is especially adapted to structures of silos as shown and described in my application for U. S. Letters Patent filed June 16, 1913, and serially numbered 7 7 4,040.

Referring by numerals to the accompanying drawings: 6 designates the wall of the silo which is preferably made up of a plu- Speccaton of Letters Patent.

Patented June 27, 1916.

serial No. 790,315,

rality of staves 7 and embraced at intervals byhoops 8. Y Y

The Vstaves 7 do not extend wholly around the wall of the silo in order that a continuous wall opening 9 may be had, and at the terminals of the wall on either side of the opening are the continuous rib staves or wall posts 10, which extend at right angles to the wall and preferably project outwardly beyond the wall. The inner margins of said rib staves within the silo carry a packingstrip 11. In the formshown in Figs. 3 and 4, the inner margins of the rib staves 10 `are concave in order that they may carry a section of rope which serves as a weather or packing-strip 11, and in the form shown in Fig. 5 wherein the rib stave 10@L has its inner margin flush with the inner face of the wall of the silo, there is a strip 12 which builds outthe jamb so that it will project beyond the inner face of the silo, and secured to said strip is a packing-strip 13.

Secured at intervalsthroughout the height of the rib staves 10 and in the wall opening are the internally threaded sockets 14 arranged in horizontally alined pairs, the sockets of each pair being oppositely threaded and arranged to support a tubular wall bearing or expander 15 oppositely threaded at its ends for insertion in said sockets.

Each of these expander tubes is provided with Spanner-seats 16 for the convenient rotation thereof. These wall bearings vor eX- panders span the wall opening and, by preference, the hoops 8 of the silo are extended through the wall bearings or eXpanders and through openings formed in the rib staves in order to reduce to a minimum obstructions in the wall-opening. A

17 designates my improved horizontal silo wall section for closing the opening 9, made up of a plurality of sections or staves arranged to be placed within the silo and bear against the packing-strips 11.

Each stave of the horizontal wall section or alternate staves as shown, may have pairs, of U-bolts 1S forming eyelets or hangers for the hooked rods 19.

At their outer ends the rods 19 carry a tube 20 and, by preference, the tubes are the rib staves and in alining pairs arranged in planes beneath the planes of the U-bolts secured to the horizontal stave sections.

By this arrangement, through the medium of the threaded ends of the rods 19 and the nuts 23 carried thereby and bearing against the tubes 20, the horizontal stave sections may be drawn downwardly to prevent leakage between said stave sections and also outwardly so that the stave sections will bear against the packing-strips within the silo.

It is to be observed that the lengths of the horizontal stave sections are greater than the width of the wall-opening in order that variation in the width of the wall-opening will not necessitate different lengths of horizontal stave sections.

By preference in the wall construction of the silo both vertical and horizontal stave sections are made up of timbers such as are readily .obtainable at any lumber yard and I find a convenient size to be two by six. Secured to the margins of these timbers are coved strips arranged to receive round staves therebetween. This forms a wall structure of the silo proper and a. readily removable and sectional wall structure wherein the staves of either section may freely articulate relative to each other without forming open sea-ms which are objectionable on account of leakage.

In the event of shrinkage of the walls of the silo the operator rotates (one at a time) the tubes 15 and, by reason of the opposite threads, the rib staves at the wall terminals are moved away from each other which will force the staves against each other, that is forcing the staves against the silo hoops without changing the dimensions of the hoops, as is common.

It is to be observed that one of the silo wall sections is formed by a plurality of staves coming in contact with each other, one above the other, and which are ai'- ranged horizontally across the wall opening formed by spaced apart terminals of the vertical wall sections. In using said staves in horizontal position I may close up a wall opening entirely or build up a wall section to any desired height and remove the staves of said section, one at a time, as required to keep the wall at or about the ensilage level, and that any one of the staves of said section may be adjusted so that at all times there will be tight joints between the staves.

I claim:

1. In combination with a silo havinga continuous wall-opening, a wall section made up of a plurality of superimposed staves having greater length than the width of the wall-opening, and means for drawing and holding said superimposed staves vertically against each other and laterally against the wall of the silo.

2. A silo, comprising a series of vertical staves and a wall-opening, means acting on said vstaves to vary the width of said wallopening, a series of horizontal staves whose ends bear against the inside faces of the vertical'staves, and means for moving said horizontal staves vertically toward each other and laterally toward the vertical staves.

3. A silo wall, comprising a series of ver tical staves arranged in an incomplete circle to form a wall in which is an opening from top to bottom of the silo and a series of horizontal staves serving to close said opening and arranged in a vertical series one superimposed upon the next, means for adjusting the vertical lstaves at the sides of the said opening either toward or away from each other, and separate means for drawing the horizontal staves toward each other and holding` them against the vertical staves.

4. A silo structure, comprising a series of vertically disposed staves form a wall in which is a continuous and adjustable opening throughout the height thereof, a series of bands encircling said staves, means spanning said opening and bearing against the silo structure at each side of the opening for adjusting said .staves relative to said bands, with a consequent variation in the width of said opening, a series of horizontally disposed staves spanning said opening, and means for simultas ,neously adjusting said horizontal staves toward each other and outwardly toward the vertical staves.

In testimony whereof, I have signed my name to this specification in presence of two subscribing witnesses.

RUDY S. LEWIS. lVitnesses:

EDWARD E. LoNGAN, E. L. VALLAGE.

Copies of this patent may be obtained for five cents each, by laddressing the Commissioner of niente, Washington, D. C.

arranged to 

